Palestinian youth seized in new attack on Dheisheh refugee camp by so-called “Captain Nidal”

17 October 2017

Palestinian youth activist Murad Mousa Alkhmour was seized by Israeli occupation forces who invaded the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem in the early pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, 17 October. Alkhmour and his family had been repeatedly harassed and threatened by the so-called “Captain Nidal,” the infamous Israeli occupation military commander who has engaged in a reign of terror against the youth of Dheisheh and their families.

Alkhmour, 20, was born on 12 November 1996 and is a student at Al-Ahliya University. He and his family members have been subjected to numerous harassing and threatening phone calls by “Nidal,” whose threats against the youth of Dheisheh have included ones to “make all of you disabled.” Shortly before Israeli occupation forces fired the deadly shots at Palestinian youth Raed al-Salhi, unarmed, in Dheisheh camp, “Nidal” had threatened to “shoot [Raed] in front of your mother.”

Also seized were two more Palestinians from the Bethlehem area, Khaled al-Masri and Saleh al-Hreimi, part of the ongoing Israeli occupation raids and attacks targeting active Dheisheh youth. Later on the same day, Nizar Fararjeh was detained at an occupation military checkpoint after occupation forces seized and held his brother Nabil as a hostage until Nizar came to the checkpoint.

Alkhmour was one of 18 Palestinians seized by Israeli occupation forces in raids on Tuesday morning, including five people seized from al-Khalil, including Hamza Ali Awad, Khaled Raed Baher, Adi Natsheh, child Imad al-Salibi (15) and former prisoner Yousef al-Faqih; three from Jerusalem, Mohammed Jamal Abu Kaf, Mansour Aslim and Salah Sharifa; three from Jenin, Asim Abu al-Hija, Alaa Hushiya, and Nasim Yasser Farhat; Samer Ibrahim al-Sada and Kamal Abed Amer from Nablus; Mohammed Nofal from Qalqilya and Abdel-Rahman al-Jalis from Ramallah.

Later on Tuesday, Islam Fayeq Dabaya, 18, was seized by Israeli occupation soldiers who attacked his car on the road to Tulkarem after they had earlier invaded and ransacked his family home.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates its demand for the immediate release of Murad Alkhmour, Khaled al-Masri, Saleh al-Hreimi, Nizar Fararjeh and all of the detained and imprisoned Palestinians in Israeli jails, and an end to the ongoing and violent attacks and terror threats against Palestinian youth in Dheisheh. We urge greater international mobilization against the ongoing invasions, attacks and arrests directed at Palestinian youth. While the pseudonym “Nidal” is used to deliver these ongoing threats to Palestinian youth and entire refugee families, they are not an individual effort; instead, they reflect an institutionalized campaign of the Israeli military to suppress the active youth of the camp through killing, maiming, imprisonment and threats. We urge the freedom of all 6,200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and we demand that “Captain Nidal,” as well as the Israeli occupation commanders and officials that authorize his threats and terror against the youth of Dheisheh be held accountable and prosecuted for his crimes.

Death of former prisoner Mahmoud Suleiman highlights medical neglect in Israeli prisons

17 October 2017

Palestinian prisoners are highlighting the danger of medical neglect or mistreatment for sick prisoners in Israeli jails and the long-lasting consequences, following the death of released prisoner Mahmoud Suleiman from Gaza in Egypt on 14 October, where he died during cancer treatment. Suleiman’s illness was discovered after he was released from Israeli prison in 2013 after 22 years of imprisonment and had not been treated while he was jailed.

Fellow former prisoner Allam Kaabi said that prisoners were subject to a “policy of slow death to neutralize their continued contribution to the Palestinian national cause,” noting that many prisoners and freed prisoners suffer from serious illnesses like cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease. He also said that many prisoners are freed only to discover their illnesses.

Kaabi also said that the Israel Prison Service is not interested in providing robust health and medical services to Palestinian prisoners or creating an environment that supports their health, linking the prison environment to chronic illnesses impacting prisoners after their release.

Dr. Raafat Hamdouna of the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies said that the Israeli state is responsible for the worsening of the condition of cancer patients, saying that their lives are disregarded and that a number of prisoners have cancer and fear the consequences of a lack of health care inside Israeli prisons. He also warned of possible environmental impacts that could have serious impact on prisoners’ health.

The Prisoners Affairs’ Commission said that Said al-Banna, 37, from Tulkarem, has suffered from bladder cancer for severl years. He received surgery a year and a half ago at Soroka hospital to remove the tumor; however, required follow-up examinations have been repeatedly postponed and he now receives only painkillers for medical treatment. Serving a life sentence, he has been jailed since 3 April 2002. The Commission also said that Nayef al-Mashni, 32, from al-Shuyukh village in al-Khalil, has been waiting to receive a sinus operation for over two years with no progress; he is serving a 19-year sentence and has been imprisoned since 11 August 2004.

Mohammed al-Tal, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council just released days ago from Israeli occupation prisons – leaving 12 Palestinian parliamentarians imprisoned by the Israeli occupation – said that he felt pain in his stomach after being detained for a month and was given only painkillers. He waited four months before receiving medical attention, when he was diagnosed with a tumor; his bile duct and part of the pancreas was removed, but only after lengthy delays and a denial that he needed treatment at all.

He also drew attention to the cases of some of the most severely ill prisoners, including Moatassim Raddad, who suffers from colon cancer and has permanent pain; Mansour Moqtada, who was severely wounded by Israeli occupation soldiers at the time of his arrest and who is dependent on a “plastic stomach” for digestion; and Khaled Abu Shawish.

Shireen Issawi released after occupation forces detain her again, tear posters; fifth Palestinian woman ordered to administrative detention

17 October 2017

Palestinian lawyer and human rights defender Shireen Issawi was released on Tuesday, 17 October after 43 months in Israeli prisons. Issawi, the sister of fellow prisoners Medhat and Samer Issawi and the spokesperson for her brother Samer’s campaign during his lengthy hunger strike, served 43 months in Israeli prison.

On Tuesday, Issawi’s freedom did not come easily; Issawi was seized after being released from Damon prison by occupation forces and taken to the Moskobiyeh interrogation center as her brother Shadi was also taken for questioning. At the same time that she was interrogated, as her family waited for the celebration of her release in Issawiyeh in Jerusalem, occupation forces attacked the home, tearing down posters welcoming Shireen and her freedom.

“They re-arrested me with the aim of upsetting my family’s joy at my release and I decided not to allow them to do so,” said Issawi to Al-Jazeera. “We are a people living under occupaiton and we have a right to rejoice.”

Accused of helping prisoners’ families to transfer messages, letters and funds to the “canteen” or prison store accounts of imprisoned Palestinians as part of her work with the prisoners, Issawi was sentenced to four years in Israeli prison; her brother Medhat was sentenced with her to eight years. She appealed her sentence to the Israeli Supreme Court, which ruled on Monday, 16 October that she should be released early, with four months remaining on her sentence.

Shadi Issawi, Shireen’s brother, said that she spent a significant portion of her imprisonment held in solitary confinement, denouncing abuse by the prison administration.

Meanwhile, a fifth Palestinian woman was ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial, out of approximately 57 women prisoners on 17 October. Khadija al-Rubai, 30, of Yatta east of al-Khalil, was arrested by occupation forces one week ago when they invaded her home in a pre-dawn raid and confiscated 30,000 NIS ($8,000 USD).

There are over 450 Palestinians jailed without trial or charge under administrative detention orders, which are indefinitely renewable. Including al-Rubai, there are currently five women in administrative detention; the others are Palestinian leftist legislator and national leader Khalida Jarrar, Ihsan Dababseh, Afnan Abu Haniyeh and Sabah Faraoun.

Palestinian women prisoners are held in two jails, HaSharon and Damon prisons. 23 women are held in two rooms in Damon prison, while the remaining 34 women, including 10 minor girls, are held in HaSharon prison. Women in Damon prison have repeatedly protested their conditions of confinement in recent months and have been subject to solitary confinement and other forms of abuse.

One of those minor girls and the youngest female Palestinian prisoner, Malak al-Ghaliz, 14, was sentenced to 9 months in Israeli prison by the Ofer military court on Monday, 16 October. Malak, from Jalazone refugee camp outside Ramallah was also orered to pay a fine of 4,000 NIS ($1,000 USD.) Malak is scheduled for release on 20 January 2018.

Also scheduled for release on Tuesday, 17 October is Mariam Khaled Arafat, 23, from Nablus; she has been imprisoned since 28 November 2015, sentenced to two years in prison and accused of attempting to stab Israeli occupation soldiers at a checkpoint near her home. During her imprisonment, she was denied family visits for lengthy periods.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Shireen Issawi upon her release. Her imprisonment was part of a systematic attack on Palestinian lawyers and legal workers aimed at keeping Palestinian prisoners in an even more precarious situation than they already are, as well as a clear targeting of a family engaged in struggle. We urge the immediate and unconditional liberation of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Imprisoned comrades of Basil al-Araj to be on trial in PA court again on Thursday

17 October 2017

The Palestinian Authority will continue the trial against the comrades of slain Palestinian youth intellectual and organizer Basil al-Araj on Thursday, 19 October, said their lawyer Muhannad Karajeh in a report for Hadf News. Al-Araj, killed by Israeli occupation forces who invaded the home where he was staying in March 2017 and shot him down as he resisted, had been earlier detained by the Palestinian Authority along with five fellow Palestinian youth.

The trial is scheduled for 19 October despite the fact that four of the five young men are held without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation under administrative detention orders: Seif al-Idrissi, Mohammed Harb, Haitham Siyaj and Mohammed Salameen. The fifth young man, currently not imprisoned, is Ali Dar al-Sheikh. The case against the five was postponed at a court hearing on 11 June due to their imprisonment in Israeli prison; this followed an earlier hearing only weeks after the assassination of al-Araj, which was met with large protests outside the court in protest of the ongoing charges against both the slain al-Araj and his comrades that were viciously attacked by PA security forces. Charges against al-Araj were dropped because of his death.

The five youth are charged with “possessing a weapon without a license,” and the PA prosecutor’s office is continuing the trial despite the recommendations of the commission of inquiry into PA security forces’ attack on Palestinian demonstrators outside the courthouse in March. The commission urged that the charges be dropped and the case be cancelled, particularly noting that four of the five are jailed without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention.

Days of Solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah: Palestinians from Gaza Speak Out

17 October 2017

As people around the world prepare for actions for the global days of solidarity with imprisoned Lebanese struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah as he enters his 34th year in French prison, Palestinians in Gaza joined the call for solidarity, issuing a video in support of Abdallah and demanding his immediate release.

Four separate, longer videos were recorded by Palestinian leaders and activists in Gaza expressing their support for the International Days of Action called for by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network from 14-24 October.

Watch the videos below:

From Mohammed Shurafa, of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUEbOTenpyo?cc_load_policy=1

From Allam Kaabi, former Palestinian political prisoner, on behalf of the Prisoners’ Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alp-8pIPJ2E?cc_load_policy=1

From Fidaa Hunaideq, of the Palestinian Progressive Youth Union:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9quekiEdoig?cc_load_policy=1

From Ahmad Tanani, of the Youth of the PFLP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH4z-Ux-0P8?cc_load_policy_1

Mohammed Abu Aker sentenced as his father remains jailed without charge or trial

17 October 2017

After nearly two years in Israeli occupation prison, Mohammed Nidal Abu Aker, 24, from Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison by the Israeli Ofer military court on Tuesday, 17 October. Abu Aker, a prominent activist in the camp, was charged with an array of allegations involving support for or membership in a prohibited organization.

He is the son of Nidal Abu Aker, a former hunger striker who is currently jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Imprisoned since 9 August 2016, Nidal has spent 15 years in Israeli prison, much of that time in administrative detention. A prominent leftist leader associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Nidal Abu Aker is also a journalist who created a radio program dealing specifically with the issues and concerns of Palestinian prisoners.

Mohammed Abu Aker has been imprisoned since 18 November 2015 and is scheduled for release on 8 December of this year.

Hassan Shokeh launches hunger strike against his administrative detention

17 October 2017

Palestinian prisoner Hassan Shokeh, 29, from Bethlehem, launched an open hunger strike on Wednesday, 11 October 2017 in protest of his administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial. The Ofer military court ordered Shokeh detained for six months in an indefinitely renewable administative detention order. As of Tuesday, 17 October, he is on his seventh day of hunger strike.

Muhja Al-Quds foundation said that Shokeh launched his open hunger strike to protest his re-arrest and administrative detention only one month after he was released from Israeli prisons from a prior arrest, on 31 August 2017. Shokeh was moved to isolation in Ofer prison as soon as he launched his hunger strike, reported Asra Voice. He was imprisoned before on multiple occasions on the basis of allegations of involvement with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement.

The announcement of Shokeh’s hunger strike came as Khader Adnan, former long-term hunger striker and ex-political prisoner, announced that Bilal Diab may declare an open hunger strike if his administrative detention is extended again. Diab, 32, previously engaged in a 77-day hunger strike along with fellow Palestinian prisoner Thaer Halahleh against their imprisonment without charge or trial. Adnan emphasized that the Israeli military courts are illegitimate and that administrative detention leaves no path of struggle but an open hunger strike available to Palestinians jailed without charge or trial.

There are currently over 450 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention out of 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners total. Administrative detention orders are issued for one to six months at a time and are indefinitely renewable; Palestinians have been imprisoned for years at a time without charge under administrative detention orders.

40 more administrative detention orders issued in October by Israeli military courts

17 October 2017

The Israeli occupation military courts issued 40 administrative detention orders to imprison Palestinians without charge or trial since the beginning of October 2017, reported Palestinian lawyer Mahmoud al-Halabi of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

There are currently over 450 Palestinians detained without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders issued on the basis of secret evidence. Palestinians can spend years at a time imprisoned with no charge under repeatedly renewed administrative detention orders.

Among those who received renewed administrative detention orders was Seif al-Idrissi, the Palestinian youth activist previously jailed by the Palestinian Authority along with Basil al-Araj and four other comrades; al-Idrissi’s imprisonment without charge or trial has been repeatedly extended. Saleh Jaidi, the Palestinian youth activist in Dheisheh refugee camp, was also ordered to 6 months in administrative detention.

The orders issued were for:

1. Raslan Rizk Masalmeh, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
2. Ahmed Safi Atta, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
3. Montasser Abu Hashem, Tulkarem, 6 months, new order
4. Yousef Fares Abu Arqoub, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
5. Mohammed Mahmoud Ebadi, Jenin, 3 months, new order
6. Nidal Khalil Afaneh, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
7. Iyad Salameh Daibes, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
8. Ahmed Awad Nadi, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
9. Mohammed Najdi, Tulkarem, 4 months, extension
10. Sharif Masalma, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
11. Muath Mustafa Abu Nassar, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
12. Yousef Ghazi Salhab, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
13. Yousef Shafiq Mahmoud Abdel-Karim, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
14. Hassan Hosni Shokeh, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
15. Ammar Lotfi Hamad, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
16. Laith Imad Abu Kharma, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
17. Mohiuddin Mohammed Rajoub, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
18. Yahya Hassan al-Khatib, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
19. Issa Ali Awad, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
20. Munir Fahmi al-Aql, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
21. Aktham Yousef Khalil, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
22. Yousef Abdel-Rahim al-Khatib, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
23. Nafez al-Shawamra, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
24. Mohammed Hamdi Oweiwi, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
25. Seif Samer al-Idrissi, Tulkarem, 6 months, extension
26. Saleh Mohammed Jaidi, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
27. Suleiman Abdel-Karim Ajouz, Bethlehem, 3 months, new order
28. Moataz Raja al-Zaidat, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
29. Malek Mohammed Hahalin, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
30. Jumaa Ahmad Assi, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
31. Mehdi Yousef Barghouthi, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
32. Mohammed Hassan Wardian, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
33. Mazen Jamal al-Natsheh, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
34. Shadi Idriss Najjar, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
35. Ahmed Wael Afaneh, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
36. Ahmed Yousef Khalil, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
37. Moatassem Mazen Raqban, Bethlehem, 6 months, extenion
38. Mahmoud Hassan Wardian, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
39. Sami Fayez Sarhan, al-Khalil, 4 months extension
40. Fayez Ahmed Wardeh, Ramallah, 4 months, extension

Palestinian fishers attacked by Israeli occupation navy off Gaza coast

17 October 2017

Four Palestinian fishers in the sea off Gaza were fired upon, attacked and seized by Israeli occupation naval forces on the morning of Sunday, 15 October 2017, as occupation forces seized 15 Palestinians in night raids on villages, cities and camps in the West Bank.

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights noted that two fishermen were killed, 10 fishermen had been wounded and 28 had been arrested by Israeli occupation forces since the beginning of 2017; 10 fishing boats were confiscated and fishers were fired upon 142 times. The four seized on Sunday morning were fired upon by Israeli occupation naval forces who seized their boat as well as the four fishermen, forcing them to the port of Ashdod.

These attacks on Palestinian fishery are part of a comprehensive physical, military and economic war against the entire Palestinian people and their ability to sustain their economy and independent, indigenous agriculture and fishery.

Gaza has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, and under a tight and brutal siege since 2006, denying people and goods access and movement from the small coastal strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Over 70% of the people of Gaza are refugees who have lived in Gaza since the 1948 Nakba – the occupation and ethnic cleansing of most of Palestine. The naval closure imposed on Gaza and the cordoning off of the fishing zone has created massive poverty in Gaza’s once-wealthy fishing industry, upon which 70,000 Palestinians rely. Boats are rarely returned to their Palestinian owners after being confiscated by the occupation navy. Palestinian fishermen have repeatedly been shot by gunboats, causing death and serious and sometimes life-altering injuries, and further contributing to economic and social devastation.

HP, the same corporation that sells database services to the Israeli prison system and the military occupation checkpoint network, also administers the IT system of the Israeli Navy that enforces the naval blockade of Gaza. It is subject to a global campaign for boycott.

In al-Khalil, five Palestinians were seized by occupation forces on Sunday, including former prisoner Mohammed Sulaibi, Abdel-Rahman Awad, Rashid Abu Hadid, Samer al-Dajani and Musab al-Suweiti, the son of the prisoner Mahmoud al-Suweiti. In addition,occupation forces seized four Palestinians in Qabatiya, near Jenin, including a child, Abdel-Qader Abu al-Rub, 17; Basil Abu Zaid, Hamza Abu al-Rub and Izzedine Abu al-Rub.

Occupation forces seized three Palestinians from the Ramallah area, Amer Atef Abu Alia, Ihab Osama Abu Alia and Mohammed Rashid al-Barghouthi, as well as Ibrahim Dweikat of Qalqilya and Uday al-Khumur from Bethlehem.

Take action: Two Palestinian youth activists detained by Palestinian Authority security forces

14 October 2017

*Hamza Zbeidat (l) and Montasser Karajah (r)*

Two Palestinian youth activists have been detained on Saturday, 14 October in separate incidents by Palestinian Authority “security forces.” Montasser Karajah, 27, a former Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails and a social justice activist, was detained by PA intelligence after he was summoned by security forces from his home in Saffa village.

Meanwhile, Hamza Zbeidat, also a Palestinian youth activist, was also arrested by PA security forces as he accompanied a delegation of solidarity activists about land defense in the Jordan Valley against the settlements and Israeli agricultural and industrial exploitation taking place there on Palestinian land.

“These arrests come amid a great deal of rhetoric about reconciliation and moving beyond political detention. Quite clearly, however, the Palestinian Authority is still engaged in the business of political detention, targeting young activists who work to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and who are at risk on a daily basis of arrest and imprisonment by the Israeli occupation,” said Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

While it is not yet clear why Karajah or Zbeidat are being detained, their arrests also come in the context of the Electronic Crimes Law, the new law created by decree by PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Numerous Palestinian activists and organizers have been arrested under the law, which attempts to criminalize social media posts and other online publications critical of PA officials. Palestinian civil society organizations have demanded its immediate cancellation, noting that it is an attack on public freedoms and deepens Palestinian division at a time that Palestinian expression is under massive attack by the Israeli occupation. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has published a lengthy analysis of the dangers posed by the law.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network strongly denounces the arrest of Montasser Karajah and Hamza Zbeidat and demands their immediate release and the release of all political detainees. In addition, we join and support the Palestinian calls to cancel the dangerous and unlawful “Electronic Crimes Law” and the ongoing attacks on Palestinian websites, journalists and activists, especially as the Israeli occupation daily threatens them with closure and imprisonment.

We also join our voices with Palestinian organizations and activists demanding an end to Palestinian Authority security coordination with the Israeli occupation. Political detention of Palestinian activists cannot be separated from the PA’s coordination with the occupier. It is very important for international supporters of the Palestinian people and Palestinian cause and Palestinians in exile and diaspora to make their voices heard to the PA to demand the release of Montasser Karajah, Hamza Zbeidat and an end to security coordination, repressive legislation and political detention.

1. Email the Palestinian Embassy or PLO Mission in your country. Click here for a list of contact information. You can email the Ambassador to the PLO Delegation to the U.S., Husam Zomlot, at info@plodelegation.us and the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, at palestine@un.int. Make it clear that Palestinians around the world and international friends of Palestine stand together to confront occupation, end security coordination, and free Hamza Zbeidat, Montasser Karajah and fellow political detainees.

2. Call the Palestinian Embassy or PLO Mission. This is a case where phone calls can make a real difference! Palestinians and internationals around the world can raise their voice and demand action. Phone numbers for some missions follow:

PLO Delegation in Washington, DC: 202-974-6360.
Palestinian Mission to the UN: 212-288-8500.
Palestinian General Delegation in Ottawa, Canada: 613-736-0053.
Palestinian Mission UK: +44 (0)20 8563 0008.
Palestinian Mission to Belgium and the European Union: +32 (0) 227352478.
Palestinian Mission in Germany: +49 30 2061770.
Palestinian Mission in France: +33 1 48 28 66 00.
Palestinian Embassy in Greece: +30 21 0672 6061.
More may be found here!

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